CABA Information Series

(IS-2011-162) Health Care Comes Home: The Human Factors

Health care delivered at home is valued by patients and, when managed well, can promote healthy living and well-being. These changes in the location of care are involving more people, both professional and lay, who are sometimes performing difficult tasks, with unfamiliar equipment, in environments not designed to support these activities. All of these factors need to be addressed, and among the most critical are the human-systems interactions, also known as human factors, otherwise the safety, efficacy, and efficiency of that care will suffer.